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Lecture & Lab Courses

ARCE x410, ARCH x410, CM x410
Kevin Dong (ARCE), James Doerfler (ARCH), guest lecturers (from industry).
4th year standing or consent of instructor

Integrated Building Envelopes

This multidisciplinary elective explores an integrated project team approach to the design and construction of sophisticated external building envelopes. Additionally, participants will learn how building information modeling (BIM) can be used to collaborate and coordinate continuously through the design and construction process for building envelopes. The class will be organized and team taught by instructors from each of the following disciplines: architecture, architectural engineering and construction management.

For information, link to Prospectus, or contact Kevin Dong or James Doerfler

ARCH 420: Don Choi

In 2008, we are as distant from Le Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture as Le Corbusier was from John Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture. The buildings and rhetoric of twentieth-century modernism have become chapters in the history of architecture. At the same time, the legacies of modernism continue to provide the context for debates in contemporary architecture.  This seminar examines seminal works and writings of architects beginning with Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and other modernists of the 1920s. We will analyze reactions to modernism, including postmodern critiques by Aldo Rossi and Robert Venturi, and then will look at contemporary figures such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Through reading, writing and discussion students will attempt to place contemporary figures within the context of modernism. Assignments will include weekly reading reactions, short papers and presentations.

For additional information, contact Don Choi

ARCH 420: Marc Neveu

This research-based seminar will investigate the nature of buildings used to house departments, colleges, and schools of architecture across North America. Students will work individually on a collective project to map the history of such buildings. The intention is not only to look closely at a particular building type, but also to develop various research methods.

01 Collection
During the first part of the quarter, students will gather information: visual, bibliographic, and other. Campus and floor plans, sections, sketches, models and photographs will be collected and organized, as will a listing of all bibliographic references. A short narrative will accompany each building to address the following: What was the intention of the architect? How has the building been used, altered, reconfigured?

02 Analysis
Once the data has been collected, students will organize and analyze the date according to criteria as developed in class. Some issues may include the following: What is the function of an architecture school building? What is the relationship to the curriculum of the school? What is the relationship to the immediate and larger context? Physical issues, like materiality, day-lighting, structure, and mechanical systems will also be discussed. Students will look to discover trends, themes and peculiarities across the range of projects.

03 Evaluation
The final portion of the seminar will be a specific evaluation of one building. This will be a written document that will build upon the previous exercises and will address the question; what makes a good building for architectural education?

04
The end result of the seminar will be a collectively produced book-length (and/or web-based) collection and analysis of the architecture of architecture education.

For additional information, contact: Dr. Marc J. Neveu

CRP 470: Umut Toker
Community Design Methods

This is an interdisciplinary course heavily dependent on in-class discussions and application of community participation methods in design and planning disciplines. The theoretical background and application of community participation and participatory methods in design / planning are systematically covered.

Several previous CDM grad & undergrad students (including students from non-CRP majors) have developed senior projects and masters’ theses by continuing their work from this class. This year’s class will also have the great chance of participating in real-life community workshops we will be conducting in a new project we are undertaking. The class is offered in Fall only.

The courses CRP 470 (seminar component) and 471 (lab component) have to be taken simultaneously in order to enroll. Please enroll for a TOTAL OF 4 UNITS, as follows:

CRP 470 Course Number: 6735 (Take 3 units of 470) CRP 471 Course Number: 7538 (Take 1 unit of 471)

Architecture and landscape architecture students are encouraged to take the class and gain interdisciplinary experience in community design. Previous attendance from architecture and landscape architecture departments have helped create a very productive learning environment, yielding successful work.

For additional information, link to Prospectus or contact Umut Toker or call 805-756-1592.

Design Studios

ARCH 251: Robert Arens

Tactics for Looking, Thinking and Building

This course combines 241 and 251 into a single course which requires students to (1) observe, (2) thoughtfully devise and employ design tactics, and finally, (3) build their ideas. The course involves a series of seven quick-paced projects. Taken together, they are intended to reinforce the three critical aspects of architecture: program, site and technology. Successful projects will weave together these components into a synthetic, meaningful whole. While pursuing your projects you will build your design/theory vocabulary, develop your drawing/modeling skills in 2-D and 3-D, incorporate digital tools (Photoshop, InDesign, and SketchUp), and experiment with various materials.

For information, link to Prospectus, or contact Robert Arens

ARCH 251: Art Chapman & Howard Weisenthal

This is the first in a three part series of classes intended to build a foundation in the theories, principles and skills for students studying to be responsible environmental design professionals. This program reinforces and extends the design, drawing and visual communication skills acquired in the first year courses.

These instructors teach in a team format. Although the sections are grouped individually, common projects and lectures are provided. The teaching style involves the concept of discovery, believing that it is more meaningful to explore and discover possible solutions to projects than to be given examples of what is expected. Projects are purposely open-ended and demanding. There are no preconceived solutions. All points of view are respected and appreciated if supported by discovery and reason.

This first quarter course involves a series os small projects focusing on the development of skill in spatial design in response to natural and man-made elements.

Project Sequence Summary

The Beginning: Short exercise which focus on craft, design process, the principles of composition, color and the concept of transformation.

A Place to Be (1): Design of a place on a specific natural site for a short-tem activity appropriate and responsive to the site.

A Place to Be (2): Design of a place on a specific natural and man-made site for a short-term activity appropriate and responsive to the site.

A Place to Be (3): Design of a sequence of temporary space defining elements focused on a single intent.

A Place to Be (4): Design of a place investigating the nature of space between objects and buildings involving natural space, man-made space and the concept of sequence of spaces.

In addition an architectural journal is required in support of the projects to provide a platform to record and analyze environmental elements and engage in reflective thinking.

For additional information, contact: Art Chapman, and Howard Weisenthal

ARCH 251: Donna Duerk

Development of knowledge and abilities in the theories, processes, and methods of creative problem solving; basic visual and verbal communication; basic two and three-dimensional design and composition and the analysis of the built environment.

• Design is the process that transforms ideas into objects. It changes intangible thoughts into physical realities. One of design's fundamental concerns in this process is aesthetics [the study of the sensory, formal, and symbolic factors that create the perception of things as beautiful or pleasurable].
  
• Another fundamental concern is function [the fit of the object to its use]. Purpose and user are primary here.
• A third issue will be process — the rules we make for how to do design. We will work to make our creative processes conscious rather than unconscious, and add skills and techniques to our design process. I am teaching/modeling ways of seeing, of understanding, and of participating. There are many ways to design: try on the ones I'm teaching for how well they suit you. In the end you will take with you what works and discard what does not work for you. Understand why what does not work does not serve you before you discard it.
• The fourth issue is craft [level of expertise in the techniques of production of objects] as it relates to the ability to translate and represent ideas in two- and three-dimensional form. We produce drawings, models, diagrams, written descriptions, electronic images, and photographs to assist the design process.

For additional information, contact Donna Duerk or visit web site

ARCH 251: Chandrika Jaggia

In this studio your first architectural design course (ARCH 251) is learned together with the architectural practice course on building materials (ARCH 241).

Life is lived within space surrounded by form either natural or built. How we wish to experience this space determines the form we choose to surround it with. Through a few small in-class projects pertaining to light, scale, site, and materials we understand how different spaces and forms generate different experiences. We learn to design from the inside out.

We also explore the process for formulating space and form that include observation, analysis, definition, ideation, creation, and evaluation. This process culminates in a small sustainable architectural design project. Sketching, creating architectural drawings and making physical 3-D models are vital to the design process.

Architectural form is made of materials, natural or engineered. We gain hands-on experience of various building materials by building small architectural artifacts. This know-how helps us understand the intrinsic properties of materials. Finally we translate this basic understanding of materials into a wholesome creative design of architectural form and its spatial experience.

This studio is enriching and exciting while also requires hard work and a commitment to excellence.

For additional information, contact Chandrika Jaggia

ARCH 251: Kent Macdonald

Synthesizing Program, Context, and Materials

In this course, you will be asked to explore three of the most fundamental factors in the constellation of factors that architects must consider when designing a building: context, program, and materials.

Context: The term refers to the circumstances in which a building exits, both on its site and in its surroundings. These include the natural and man-made things one can readily identify (such as roads and vegetation), as well as ones less easily catalogues, such as the site's history or symbolic value.

Program: In its strictest sense, the program refers to the specific functional and spatial requirements for a building: the size and number of bedrooms and baths in a single-family house, for example. For larger buildings, the program can be quite complex, entailing not only detailed space allocations but also intricate descriptions of inner relationships and adjacencies. A program can also refer to qualitative aspects of the spaces themselves, such as the kind of furnishings or light quality desired in a particular room.

Materials: The lines you draw on paper and the cardboard models you make in studio represent elegant solutions to given problems: they represent your ideas about architecture. At the same time, if the lines are to be more than just notions, they must represent the building's essential nature as an artifact (or potential one) in the real world. They represent materials of construction with properties of weight, texture, and degrees of transparency.

For additional information, link to Prospectus, or contact Kent Macdonald

ARCH 251: Troy Peters

2-4-8 live/work for Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg

In a sustainable way, we will explore the human experience in Architecture. Projects will investigate how structural, massive, transparent, insulating and protective materials can be used to design spaces that create delight spatially, aesthetically, visually and thermally. Design methods will be studied and analyzed. Drawing, modeling, speaking and writing will be the main methods used in this course to convey your design ideas.

For additional information, contact Troy Peters

ARCH 251: Richard Schmidt

Students in this section will be introduced to classical methods of ordering forms and spaces. Students will be expected to master hand-drawn presentation techniques, including use of technical fountain pens on mylar. Therefore, students will need to purchase technical pens (Rapidograph or equivalent) and the drawing tools needed to use them (parallel rule, triangles, etc.).

For additional information, contact Richard Schmidt

ARCH 251: Greg Wynn

As the basis for all future design studies, this fundamental course couple introduces the design student to the basic principles, methodologies, and communication skills that are needed in the architectural profession.

Students will explore design as a learnable process, and build confidence in their ability through iteration and repetition. Projects will range from small spatial experiences, to a series of spaces, to a series of spaces on specific sites, to a small “building” on a site.

My role in this course is that of mentor and coach. I can teach you, encourage you, point you to alternative views, and share the joy of this profession, but the work to be done is up to you the student.

I believe:

The Architect is Always Learning- The architect is a student of human nature and interaction. Always researching, observing and categorizing, dissecting and re-assembling, evaluating the result, then striving to improve.

The Architect is a Graphic Thinker Like the composer that imagines a symphony and translates to paper the musical score or the choreographer that uses Labanotation to document fluid body movement, architects design space with sketches and doodles. Seemingly random scratches of ink on trace can contain a multi-level discourse within the designer’s head. It is this focused and concentrated iterative cycle of graphic thinking that generates architecture, not the “Eureka” light-bulb moment.

The Architect must Communicate Design does not happen in a vacuum. Architects gather information from multiple points-of-view, they listen well, they ask questions, and they present their ideas effectively. All in the hope of improving humanity.

For additional information, contact Greg Wynn

ARCH 351: Richard Beller

Design explorations in this studio will focus on the integration of sustainable design principles in the built environment. The first quarter of third year architectural design studio typically focuses on the relationship between building form and place. An understanding of this relationship is inherently linked to the principles of sustainability. In the most literal sense, a building design cannot be considered “sustainable”, since both in its making and in use, a building consumes precious resources. Still, the concepts of sustainability have profound implications on the built environment. An understanding of the principles of sustainable architecture enhances the ability of designers to create buildings that enliven our interaction with place, are oriented toward life-processes and integrated with the environment. Our post-industrial society requires an ecologically appropriate architecture that celebrates the interdependence of people and place—a diverse architecture that allows for variations and cyclical processes. Sustainability implies a paradigm shift from an architecture that is abstract and concept dominated to one that embraces complexity and seeks a dynamic, metabolic equilibrium with place. The intent of this studio is to gain a better understanding of an architecture that is respectful of our relationship with the rhythms and patterns of our surroundings. The concepts of sustainable architecture will be explored in a single, quarter long design project with a building type of modest scale and program. The objective of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts of sustainable architecture.

For additional information, contact Richard Beller AIA

ARCH 351: Woody Combrink

This first in the series of 3rd year design studios will be an integrated course combining the design studio and professional practice This studio will explore the relationships between a given site and generating forms and designs with respect to the quality of life, needs and uses, codes and regulations and structural systems. The course will explore alternative designs with an emphasis on creating new ideas for a small community. the project will be an infill site within the city of San Luis Obispo that will emphasize an 'oasis' concept through the prospect of being self contained while relating to its surroundings.

The quarter will begin with short warm up exercises with an emphasis on design process and personal (and alternative) methods of presentation. We will then move on to research and analysis of existing solutions. From the given project we will then explore alternative architectural and site planning solutions in preparation of a final solutions. We will also generate structural details from the proposed designs.

For additional information, contact Woody Combrink

ARCH 351: Chuck Crotser

This quarter, we will consider the implications of "smart-growth" practices and principles at the neighborhood scale through the design and development of a modest urban project on a site containing basic existing infrastructure.

The building typology that we will focus on this quarter will be HOUSING. The need for "affordable", innovative, well-designed housing is currently one of the greatest needs worldwide. Architects must play a major role in contributing to the vision and implementation of successful communities, including the creation of functional, vibrant and attractive housing alternatives with opportunities for meaningful social interaction.

We will explore the process of real project development by identifying opportunities and constraints of a local site, as well as appropriate resources utilized in real project development. We will strive to respect the pragmatic, yet necessary considerations of appropriate technology and construction methods, grading and drainage design, building code requirements, handicap access considerations and other qualities of health, safety and well-being. At the same time, our overriding interest is to create an environment of comfort, joy and delight for the occupants. We will explore the manipulation of light and color, and the selection of materials for not only their functional, but tactile and aesthetic qualities.

We will explore and incorporate principles of sustainability in our work. Clearly, an architect's responsibility is to create more efficient buildings that consume less energy and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse emissions. With regards to thoughtful, sustainable design, one of our goals will be "to design a project which will engage the environment in a way that dramatically reduces or eliminates the need for fossil fuels."

We will develop a COMPREHENSIVE project from concept through a relatively complete design development package. Your project should be PERSUASIVE, and one which clearly shows DESIGN INTENT, FEASABILITY AND CONSTRUCTABILITY.

For additional information, contact Charles Crotser

ARCH 351: Randy Dettmer

Living & Flying Green

An exploration of various concepts for residential spaces, developed with green technology and design.  This studio will explore the essential elements of the residential experience, along with discussions about reducing one’s carbon footprint on the environment, in the choice and arrangement of building design elements, materials and systems.  The final studio project will be the design of a custom residence and attached aircraft hangar for a site in New Mexico, employing rammed earth technology, off-the-grid energy systems, passive heating and cooling, and other resourceful materials & methods.  A field trip to the site may be considered.

For additional information, contact Randy Dettmer

ARCH 351/341: Thomas Fowler

This course combines 351 design studio and 351 activity into a single course. A focus of these of these first design and practice studio courses in the third year is the understanding of the relationship of the building (the architecture) to the site (the field), the connection of program to the development of spaces and the integration of building systems (materials, structure and structural pattering, and life safety systems) for the holistic development of architecture. Students are providing a framework (through multiple exercises, readings, discussions, group precedent analysis work) for developing design project strategies, tactics in looking at a multitude of options for responding to studio challenges provided.

the quarter is divided into thirds: The first third is the 2-D and 3-D analog and digital tool and skill building in the context of each individual student building a case for approaching a design project; the second third is in the integration of foundation design strategies in the development of a building design project and the last third is the synthesis, integration and refinements to developed project to tell a complete story about the design process and of the development of architecture vocabulary.

For additional information, contact Thomas Fowler

ARCH 351: Terry Hargrave

I dream:
Without dreams Architecture has no real beginnings. Vapid beginnings inevitably yield work of superficial if not compromised existence. We seek to address this through critical introspection. Our era is the critical one, we have entered gloom if not doom. What good is another strip mall, or modernist mimicry project, or even a faux utopia, if the premise for existence is flawed?

I intend a course:
About architectural making that is critical [intending to emancipate the self/ nature from the oppression of form and human greed] in its moves as well as significant in its spaces. Course problem situationism focus on the compromises of nature and the existential struggles for free will in daily life. The course, like architectural practice, involves a great deal of problem identification and subsequent creative solving and opportunity seeking. The challenge is to study the power of architecture to move culture/self/nature-compromised forward rather than merely to add to the mountains of more stuff [portfolio worthy or otherwise].

I resist:

• portfolios, but I insist on care and obsession.
• history, but I insist that you know the architectural history associated with your struggles.
• plans, but I insist that you resolve the plan of your proposals.
• sustainability, but I insist that your decisions embrace the values of such.
• software, but if it helps you towards a critical position, I insist you use it.

For additional information, link to Prospectus, or contact Terry Hargrave

ARCH 351: John Lange

This course exist as a form of visual expression, as well as architectural model building and spatial exploration. Architecture as an art is an expression of form and structure within technological and organizational pattern dictated by both personal experience and intellectual awareness. Without inspiration and freedom, architecture lacks emotional impact for the user, but without systematic organization it becomes theatre without intellectual understanding.

Architecture is separated from art by its three dimensional quality which relies upon structure to separate it from collapsing into the earth. Structure becomes the support or backdrop for space. Space is the negative of structural interaction, the void between structure or surface. Architecture is a three dimensional art best explored in model form, all drawings whether hard line or computer sketches are two dimensional by nature; they only indicate one half of the visual object in any particular views.

Practice of architecture includes initial ideas sketched out or modeled into the forms of architecture. Builders construct form from a set of flat plans, but the architect is the master of conception. Generally during practice students research existing buildings for details, plans, and sections in order to reconstruct in model form existing built projects by famous architects. This analytical exercise provides information, which ties together courses in structures, codes, and building processes, as well as providing inspiration for further research in the design studio.

For additional information, contact John Lange

ARCH 351: Marc Neveu

Fall 2008 It is common to discuss the effect of technological advancements on various Enlightenment typologies (library, museum, concert hall, etc.) and certainly one can witness drastic changes in the buildings that house various schools and departments of architecture. The disappearance of maylines and drawings on boards and their replacement by virtual images (printed out late) and overloaded outlets are common in today’s studio environment. Such changes in the physical nature of the architecture school may certainly highlight more essential questions regarding the nature of architectural education. This studio, however, will not attempt to project an appropriate building for an architecture school of tomorrow. Rather, we will study a broad range of responses; from the formation of the Ècole polytechnique and Ècole des beaux-arts in France to the experiments at the Bauhaus in the early 1920’s and the immigration of many Bauhaus professors to the United States—Gropius at Harvard, Mies van der Rohe at the Armour Institute (now IIT), the Albers and others at Black Mountain College. We will also consider more recent approaches such as the Open City, Cranbrook, Archeworks, Mockbee’s Rural Studio, and the influence of the Texas Rangers. It is expected that such inquiry will flesh out questions surrounding the education of a professional architect. What should the graduate of a professional school of architecture know, or know how to do? What is the relationship to practice, to the discipline of architecture, to the construction industry? Should the architect be educated in means of representation, means of construction, business acumen, and/or the discipline of architecture? What is the role of studio, history, theory, technology, and other courses? And finally, what is the appropriate building to witness, support, encourage, or develop such an education? The intent of the studio is to open up the question of what it might mean to educate a professional architect and then to develop an appropriate architectural response to frame such an education.

For additional information, contact: Dr. Marc J. Neveu

ARCH 351: Margarida Yin

MBI Competition Design: a Community Center for a real client: Piedmont Housing Alliance

This course is an opportunity to bring together the client with the development of one's design skills. ARCH 351 combined with ARCH 241 introduced the relationship or architectural design to clients and the community, which is sometimes referred to as community design. Design ideas and formal design languages must be employed to realize the needs of people and communities in form and space integrated into the site and place.

This Fall Quarter, students will participate in the MBI Awards Distinction contest with a $2,500 scholarship for the fist place. Students will design a Community Center for a real client: Piedmont Housing Alliance. Students will engage clients with this real community project. Students will learn about translating community needs into buildings and settings. Students will utilize and expand their skills in exploring, developing and using concept development, precedent studies, architecture field trip, programming, site analysis and design responses, the use of building technology and sustainability, Student will continue developing their 2D & 3D drawing/modeling/digital skills, while exploring different materials.

For additional information, refer to the course syllabus, MBI Competition guidelines, or contact Margarida Yin.

ARCH 451: Martin Harms

Representations of Culture; Washington DC Architecture Case Studies

Museums and Embassies are more than just building types. They are physical representations of culture. Museums are mirrors that reflect back to us through the artifacts they house - who we were, who we are and who we might aspire to be. Though established for quite practical, consular purposes, embassies also speak to the world about culture - shared values and the national identity of a people.

This course will provide an opportunity for students to visit and study in depth recent examples of museum and embassy buildings in Washington DC that exemplify this necessary dimension of good public architecture.

The course will consist of two phases. In Phase One, we will review case study approaches and methods, then visit each building, during which students will record their impressions and observations in a sketchbook and share these with class colleagues in subsequent discussion sessions. In Phase Two, students will be divided into small groups of three or four. Each group will then choose or be assigned one of the visited buildings and be required to research and document its design and construction. Issues to be covered will be developed in class but are likely to include specifics of the original commission; the site and its urban context; the program; the design concept; functional, spatial, enclosure, structural and environmental control systems; and materials and construction technology.

At intervals, each group will present its on-going work to the class. Final documentation will be in the form of analytical drawings supported by photographs and text with an end of term presentation and review. It’s hoped to include in this final review outside professionals associated with the design and/or construction of some or all of the case study buildings as well as current administrators. The work of the class will then be bound into a booklet.

The major purposes of the course are to:

• expose students to high quality contemporary design and construction
• deepen your understanding of the urban design relationship of the individual building to the city as a whole
• develop observational and analytical skills
• develop teamwork, research and presentational skills

Additional Guidelines:

Sketchbook: You are to keep a sketchbook of your observations on site visits. This must be submitted at the end of the course for you to receive a final grade. Please make sure this is a separate book from the one you might be using for other purposes such as design studio.

Travel: You are responsible for travel into and back from Washington DC; this is easily done via the Metro from King Street station.

Plagiarism: Please be aware that plagiarism will not be tolerated. Passing off someone else’s work as your own is a serious academic offense. Make sure you give appropriate attribution when you use words other than your own.

For additional information, contact Martin Harms or at cell phone:315-730-7230

ARCH 451: Ansgar Killing

"Less is More"

Architecture is widely used to represent and communicate content to the environment it is situated in. This content may include but is not limited to corporate identity of a company, cultural vision of a government, or client’s wealth.

Rarely, the outside representation is aimed to understate. As a result, architecture often becomes a detached façade in front of a rather ordinary building. Furthermore, in order to be contemporary or modern, architecture tends to constantly push the limits of constructability, engineering, and scale. One of the more recent examples is the new architectural movement in China.

This quarter’s design lab will focus on a building that is built to focus on reduced inside spaces and modest outside appearance: A convent on the central coast. Functional and technical requirements are fairly basic. The main objective is to create a building from the inside to the outside without neglecting that the whole is always more than the sum of its parts.

For additional information, link to Prospectus, or contact Ansgar Killing

ARCH 451/CM 431: Margot McDonald (ARCH), Dr. Barbara Jackson (CM), and Nick Watry (CM)

Design-Built Collaborative Studio

Taught since 2003, the Design-Build Collaborative Studio is a course coordinated between the Departments of Architecture and Construction Management. In this course, students will learn and experience a design process that involves working as an integrated team to develop solutions for a client and their site.

For Architecture students enrolled in Arch 451, there are several main differences that distinguish this class from the traditional 4th Year design studios. First, the class will have a lecture component that covers the elements of design-build. Second, the design project will be approached in interdisciplinary teams that are formed based on individual strengths and weaknesses. Third, students will be co-located (seated) with their teams to facilitate communication on the project. Fourth, architecture students will have their own time working with the design instructor to develop deeper knowledge of sustainable design issues as well as what may be less familiar topics such as cost estimating and scheduling. And, fifth, all students completing this course – whether coming from Architecture, CM, ARCE, CRP, or other majors – will emerge as “design-build integrators” who share equal knowledge and passion for integrated building design and integrated project delivery.

For additional information, contact Margot McDonald, Dr. Barbara Jackson, Nick Watry

ARCH 451: Eric Nulman
M/W/F 10-3pm

Sporting activities, religious ceremonies, and political rallies have long been the events that draw the largest crowds and interrupt daily behavior patterns. While these events typically last for only a short period of time they can serve as a catalyst for dramatic changes to the structure of society (overthrow of government, change in public policies, economic booms, etc).

The studio will begin by researching a broad cross section of large scale temporal events (due to extended material available) examining the behavior patterns and build environment that supports their occurrence. The 2008 summer Olympics, Ramadan (Islam Holy month), 2008 Democratic National Convention, Dias de los Muertos (Mexican holiday), and S.F. Fleet Week are a few scheduled events that will occur in the next few months. The course will then shift down in scale to smaller/local events where students will apply the fundamental principles they learned from the previous investigation. The studio will investigate a particular aspect of these local events – the cultural significance of community association and collective behavior – and propose architectural interventions to bolster or baffle their occurrence. The architectural emphasis will be placed on developing the spatial scene via building sections and digital animations. The spatial studies will be conjoined with the application of texture, color, and light to produce affect. There will be several skill workshops such as digital rendering/animation and developing an intelligent building envelope. The studio project will formally begin in the third week – a new stadium for a European Football Club (soccer). Unlike in the US, European club teams are strongly affiliated with a local community rather than a large metropolitan region. In England alone there are 40,000 club football teams that are linked together in a pyramidal structure allowing promotion and relegation between different levels; each year three teams join/leave the top league (20 teams).  In larger metropolitan areas such as London, the public infrastructure enables each team’s fan base to extend beyond the neighborhood limits and draws a dispersed (and much larger) community for brief periods of time. The project will be sited in a dense urban environment and will require the consideration of the new development’s environmental impact. The studio will review several noteworthy contemporary football stadiums including FC Basel Stadium (Herzog & de Meuron), Allianz Arena (Herzog & de Meuron) and Emirates Stadium (HOK Sport), and will draw upon historical and contemporary readings. Studio Organization Week 1-2 (intro): types & strategies Week 3-5 (part 1): the procession towards the Event Week 6-8 (part 2): the Event Midterm review Week 9-11 (conclusion): incorporate midterm comments and complete scheme Final review Field Trip There will be an optional studio field trip TBA.

For additional information including future course offerings contact: Eric Nulman

5th Year Thesis Studios

For information on the 5th year thesis studios, go to the 5th Year page.